Earthen Dwellings and Structures

Theme 1: Earthen materials and technology.- Theme 2: Structural performance and durability.-Theme 3: Energy & Environmental performance.- Climatic response and Thermal Performance.- Architecture / design.- Theme 4: Heritage- Conservation, repair & reuse.- Theme 5: Codes and design guidelines.

B. V. Venkatarama Reddy is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Technologies in Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. He holds a doctorate in structural engineering from IISC, where he has been working since 1979. He has a strong interest in structural masonry, mechanics of materials, energy in buildings, green buildings, low carbon construction materials, and recycling of solid wastes into construction materials, and has jointly authored a book on alternative building materials and technologies, edited a couple of books on masonry, and developed a large number of low embodied carbon construction materials and techniques. Prof Reddy has served as consultant for several innovative projects on alternative building technologies and as a member of several technical committees in Bureau of Indian Standards and other government agencies. He was the DAAD Visiting professor at Bauhaus University, Germany and a VisitingProfessor at University of Bath, UK. He is a member of many professional bodies including the Indian Concrete Institute, ISCEAH, IC-NOCMAT, British Masonry Society and RILEM.
Monto Mani is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Sustainable Technologies and Centre for Product Design & Manufacturing in IISc Bangalore. He is an Architect, with a master's degree in Civil Engineering. As part of his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, he developed a systems-framework identifying societal attitude as a critical determinant of sustainability. Dr Monto's research deals with the interdisciplinary domain of sustainability science, specifically focusing on its theoretical basis, and application in the architecture and design of buildings- his Sustainability and Design lab (SuDesi) comprises multi-disciplinary researchers working in diverse areas of sustainability. He is best known for his contributions in functional performance of buildings, PV performance and building integration